Complaint filed against Fiesta Bowl

A group dedicated to creating a college football playoff system has filed a complaint against the Fiesta Bowl for allegedly violating election laws.

Playoff PAC, a federal political action committee created by six college football fans with political expertise — including Matthew Sanderson, former campaign finance counsel to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign — filed a complaint with the Arizona secretary of state’s office Tuesday after the Arizona Republic reported that five current and former Fiesta Bowl employees were illegally reimbursed after making political contributions.

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The employees told the newspaper that they were given bonuses after agreeing to donate to specific political candidates. Most of the contributions were steered toward local politicians able to make decisions that would affect the bowl played in Glendale, Ariz.

The Fiesta Bowl is one of five Bowl Championship Series games that rotate hosting the national championship game. Playoff PAC has organized an anti-BCS lobbying and messaging effort in the hopes of creating a playoff system to determine the sport’s champion — as exists in other NCAA sports and for smaller-school NCAA football.

“The Arizona Republic finally offered a glimpse into the BCS’s opaque family of organizations. What they saw wasn’t pretty — a tax-exempt organization blowing $4 million on boondoggles and reimbursing employees’ political contributions illegally,” said Matthew Martinez, a spokesman for the PAC.

“The Fiesta Bowl attempted to kill this controversy by employing a consultant to perform a brief internal review,” added Martinez. “This paid consultant plainly lacks the credibility necessary to rebut claims of impropriety made by five separate Fiesta Bowl employees. The Fiesta Bowl must immediately open its books so that the Secretary of State and the public can determine whether a taxpayer-subsidized entity behaved illegally.”

Fiesta Bowl spokesman Tony Alba did not respond to a request for comment.